The First of two legs played between Coventry City and Sunderland in the EFL Play-offs saw the Black Cats leave the Coventry Building Society Arena with a lead to defend as they defeated the hosts 2-1.
Coventry were the team in control for the majority of this match, but thanks to a resilient defensive display from Sunderland, alongside a golden chance being presented late on, the visitors would be the team in charge going into the second leg.
Wilson Isidor opened the scoring before Jack Rudoni equalised for the hosts just moments later. Eliezer Mayenda scored the winner in the 88th minute.
The First Half – Sunderland’s defensive masterclass
Coventry established control of the match within the opening twenty minutes as they had the visitors pinned in their defensive third, who struggled to play out of Coventry’s press, regularly opting to launch the ball to safety.
A rare moment of freedom for the Black Cats came in the 24th minute when Eliezier Mayenda made a powerful run forward and managed to get his shot off that drifted wide of Anthony Patterson’s goal, but was still encouraging for the away support.
It was obvious that Sunderland were happy to let Coventry have the larger share of possession in the first half, as the hosts had 75% of the ball in the first half, much higher than their season average.
For all the control that Coventry had, the xG suggested that they had not generated many better opportunities than their opponents. The end of the first half saw Coventry with an xg of 0.67 to Sunderland’s 0.42.
The story of the first half would be how defensively solid Sunderland had been throughout the opening half, as the visitors would certainly be the more pleased of the two sides when the half-time whistle was blown.
For large portions of the first half, Coventry had been limited to sideways and backwards passes, which is exactly how Regis Le Bris would have wanted his side to defend – the game plan was working for now.
The Second half – An Exciting 45 minutes
It was a much more lively half than the supporters witnessed in the first half as the first blow was landed in the two-legged affair, but maybe not from the team most would have expected.
Wilson Isidor, whose last goal came on February 17th against Leeds United, opened the scoring as the away end erupted into noise.
Ending his goal drought, the Frenchman curled his shot accurately into the bottom right corner from the left side of the box to give Sunderland a very valuable lead away from home.
These celebrations were extremely short-lived, however, as less than two minutes after Wilson Isidor’s opener, Coventry hit back in what was an instant response from the hosts.
Jack Rudoni, in fine form as of late, got on the end of a cross into the box from Milan van Ewijk and blasted his headed attempt past Anthony Patterson, who could not do anything to prevent the equaliser.
Following the equaliser, both teams had a couple of half-chances apiece that ultimately amounted to nothing as the game looked like it would end as a draw.
However, this would not be the case, as in the 88th minute, disaster struck for the hosts. A mistake was made by Milan van Ewijk that would have devastating consequences for his side.
The Dutchman made an attempt to pass the ball back to Ben Wilson, but did not put enough power behind his pass, allowing Mayenda who had been persistent with his running from start to finish, to collect the ball and go around Ben Wilson to place the ball into an empty net and give his side a one-goal lead to take back up North with them.
Le Bris’ game plan worked perfectly for his side tonight, and their reward is a one-goal advantage on Tuesday night when they host Coventry at the Stadium of Light for the second leg.
The Teams:
Coventry City: B. Wilson, M. van Ewijk, B. Thomas, L. Kitching, J. Dasilva, M. Grimes, B. Sheaf (J. Allen 82′), T. Sakamoto, J. Rudoni, B. Thomas-Asante (E. Mason-Clark 71′), H. Wright.
Bookings: B. Sheaf, M. van Ewijk, L. Kitching
Unused Substitutes: B. Collins, L. Binks, J. Bidwell, J. Latibeaudiere, J. Paterson, J. Eccles, E. Simms
Sunderland: A. Patterson, T. Hume, D. Ballard, L. O’Nien, D. Cirkin, P. Roberts (C. Mepham 86′), D. Neil, J. Bellingham, E. Le Fee, E. Mayenda (Alan Browne 90+3′), W. Isidor (Chris Rigg 77′)
Bookings: D. Cirkin
Unused Substitutes: S. Moore, J. Seelt, L. Hjelde, S. Samed, H. Jones, Tom Watson